Cold Snacks: Do you need ideas to prepare some fresh snacks? Here you have super smooth and irresistible recipes for cold meals.
1. Gazpacho Shots
Something as simple as gazpacho can turn into a cold, smooth, and irresistible snack with a little imagination. You just have to prepare a gazpacho (here is the step-by-step recipe), divide it into shots, and accompany it with some mini toasts with onion, pepper, and tomato hash.
Other versions. To give it a more sophisticated touch, you can accompany it with a prawn or a prawn pricked on a skewer stick instead of the toast. And if you want a sweet version, try making a strawberry gazpacho with parmesan shavings.
2. Cucumber and Smoked Salmon Montaditos
Smoked salmon is synonymous with celebration and fits in wonderfully as a cold appetizer. Cut cucumber slices about 1 cm thick. Put a teaspoon of cheese spread on top and then a piece of smoked salmon.
Repeat the assembly of cucumber, cheese, and smoked salmon, mount it on top of the first, click with a toothpick so that it does not disassemble.
Other versions. You can do the same with shavings of Iberian ham instead of salmon and Roquefort cheese instead of cream cheese.
3. Montamore Sandwiches and Anchovies
Cut the bread into not very thick slices and toast them. Spread them with Salmorejo, place a pickled anchovy fillet rolled on top, and decorate with some chopped chive stalks and slightly crushed pink peppercorns.
How to make anchovies in vinegar. Remove the head, guts, and thorn. Clean them, dried them, and place them in a fountain.
Season them, cover them with vinegar and let them rest for 2 hours. Drain and put in another source with peeled and cut the garlic, parsley washed and chopped and covered with oil; and let them macerate 24 hours in the fridge.
Other versions. You can also do it with canned sardines instead of anchovies.
4. Tartlets With Russian Salad
To make this appetizer, you just have to take some tartlets that they already sell precooked in the supermarket and fill them with an excellent Russian salad and top them with peeled shrimp, mussels, smoked salmon.
Other versions. You can also serve it in shots or small glasses if you do not want to throw away ultra-processed food or feel like making the tartlets.
5. Omelet Montaditos Cold Snacks
Tortillas are a classic of easy cold snacks. You can use a lifetime omelet or any filling (zucchini, spinach, artichokes, peppers ). And to make it more festive, you can present it like this: in Montaditos, with a cherry tomato on top and aromatic herbs.
Other versions. You can insert the tortilla taquitos or wrap them with pieces or slices of cheese.
6. Toasts With Avocado and Cod
Cut some slices of whole wheat bread and toast them. Top them with slices of avocado, slices of cod carpaccio or smoked cod, and radish and tomato slices. Dress with a light vinaigrette and garnish with chives.
Other versions. Instead of smoked cod, you can put salmon or Iberian ham.
7. Marinated Mackerel Montaditos
Cut mackerel fillets into strips and marinate 2 hours with 1 lemon juice and its zest, together with 50 ml of oil and salt.
Cut slices of bread into pieces and toast them, cover them with a hash of pepper and tomato, top with macerated mackerel’s strips, and decorate with sprouts.
Other versions. If you don’t have time or don’t feel like marinating mackerel, you can put canned mackerel, sardines, anchovies, anchovies.
8. Stuffed Egg Cold Snacks
Cook the eggs in steaming salted water for 10 minutes. Remove them and refresh them in a bowl with water and ice. Peel the eggs cut them in half lengthwise and remove the yolks being careful not to break the whites.
Crush the yolks with a fork and mix it with drained and crumbled tuna and a bit of mayonnaise. Fill the whites with the mixture and decorate with cherry tomato, cucumber, carrot and radish slices, and aromatic herb leaves.
Other versions. If you prefer a lighter version, change the mayonnaise from the filling for homemade tomato sauce. And if you want the classic presentation, decorate with strips of piquillo peppers or anchovies.
9. Stuffed Figs Cold Snacks
Wash the figs, remove the tail, and cut them crosswise without reaching the base. Carefully open them slightly and fill them with a little cream cheese.
Top them with york ham rolls and decorate with some arugula leaves. You can accompany them with a vinaigrette made with oil, apple cider vinegar, and honey.
Other versions. If you want a sweet version, fill them with whipped cream and crown with peeled hazelnuts.
10. Zucchini Rolls With Vegetable Pate
Using a kitchen mandolin, make thin slices of zucchini. Spread them with vegetable pates (hummus, guacamole, olive ). Roll them up and decorate them with leaves of aromatic herbs or sprouts.
Other versions. If you don’t like raw zucchini, you can substitute cucumber or cook it by scaling it or grilling it for a couple of minutes.
11. Mussels With Pico De Gallo
To make this cold appetizer, you just have to steam a few mussels and fill them with a tomato hash. Cut tomato into cubes. Dress with salt freshly ground pepper and oil.
Stir so that all the tomato is well impregnated and fill the mussels. Before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley and coriander.
Other versions. They are also wealthy with a hash of pepper and onion in addition to the tomato.
12. Vegetable Pates
Vegetable hummus or guacamole pates, like this one, are ideal as a cold appetizer. The trick to surprise your guests is to make them yourself instead of buying them.
And instead of serving them with some bag nachos, help them with crudites, for example, cucumber sticks, peppers, carrots.
Other versions. You can enrich the hummus with toasted sesame seeds, which you can make by heating them with a thread of oil in a non-stick frying pan.
And you can make a tomato-free version of guacamole by mashing the avocado and mixing it with cream cheese and chopped onion.
13. Melon Flowers With Ham
Cut the melon into quarters and remove the seeds and skin. With a sharp knife, a mandolin or a slicer, cut thin and uniform sheets, which can be folded without breaking. Spread them on the table, superimposing them two by two.
Cover with slices of Iberian ham if necessary, cut them out, and if they are smaller, overlap them and roll them up into a flower shape.
And in the center of each flower, you can put a mixture of sour cream (2 tablespoons), cream cheese (4 tablespoons), diced ham and fresh mint, washed, dried, and chopped.
Other versions. If you do not want to complex your life so much, you can cut the melon into tacos or balls (with the help of a punch), roll them with a strip of Iberian ham and skewer them skewer sticks.
14. Tomato and Mozzarella Skewers
Cut cherry tomatoes in half, place a taquito or a fresh mozzarella roll between the two halves, skewer on skewer sticks and sprinkle with fresh basil, washed, dried, and chopped.
Other versions. If you don’t have crisp basil on hand, you can do it with dried basil. And if you want to enrich this cold appetizer, wrap each tomato with anchovy or a pickled anchovy.
15. Pickled Banderillas
Banderillas are another star of cold appetizers. Aside from the ones they sell already assembled, you can make them at home by stringing the pickles you like the most and other ingredients. We have made these with olives, piquillo peppers, anchovy in vinegar, and quail eggs.
Other versions. Another classic is to take a canned artichoke heart, roll it with anchovy and fasten it with a skewer.
